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Hudson Countyis the smallest and the most densely populated county in New Jersey, United States. It takes its name from the Hudson River, which creates part of its eastern border. Its county seat is Jersey City. Hudson County is part of the New York metropolitan area.

Hudson County Genealogical Society

The HCGS has several projects available online: The Holy Name Cemetery Burial Index ~ Hudson County Monuments Pictorial Catalog ~ The Hudson Observer Death Notices. Check them out here.

Were you a RAOGK Volunteer?

If you were a Lookup Volunteer for RAOGK and would like to be a lookup volunteer for Hudson County, please let me know.

Lenape - At the time of European contact in the 7th century, Hudson County was the territory of the Lenape or Lenni-Lenape, namely the bands (or family groups) known as the Hackensack, the Tappan, the Raritan, and the Manhattan. They were a seasonally migrational people who practiced small-scale agriculture (companion planting)

Photos Seeking Families

Be sure to check out the new Photos Seeking Families page, which will contain as much information as possible about photos that are posted.

augmented by hunting and gathering which likely, given the topography of the area, included much (shell) fishing and trapping. These groups had early and frequent contact with the Europeans, with whom they engaged in trade. Their Algonquian language can still be inferred in many local place names such as Communipaw, Harsimus, Hackensack, Hoboken, Weehawken, Secaucus, and Pamrapo.

New Netherland - Henry Hudson, for whom the county and river on which it sits is named, established a claim for the area in 1609 when anchoring his ship the Halve Maen (Half Moon) at Harsimus Cove and Weehawken Cove. The west bank of the North River (as it was called) and the cliffs, hills, and marshlands abutting and beyond it, were settled by Europeans (Dutch, Flemish, Walloon, Huguenot) from the Lowlands around the same time as New Amsterdam. In 1630, Michael Pauw received a land patent, or patroonship and purchased the land between the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, giving it the Latinized form of his name, Pavonia. He failed to settle the area and was forced to return his holdings to the Dutch West India Company. Homesteads were established at Communipaw (1633), Harsimus (1634), Paulus Hook (1638) and Hoebuck (1643). Relations were tenuous with the Lenape, and eventually led to Kieft's War, which began as a slaughter by the Dutch at Communipaw and is considered to be one of the first genocides of Native Americans by Europeans. A series of raids and reprisals across the province lasted two years, and ended in an uneasy truce. Other homesteads were established at Constable Hook (1646), Awiehaken (1647), and other lands at Achter Col on Bergen Neck. In 1658, Director-General Peter Stuyvesant of New Netherland negotiated a deal with the Lenape to re-purchase the area named Bergen, "by the great rock above Wiehacken," including the whole peninsula from Sikakes south to Bergen Point/Constable Hook. In 1661, a charter was granted the new village/garrison at the site of present-day Bergen Square, establishing what is considered to be the oldest self-governing municipality in New Jersey. The Dutch finally ceded control of province to the English in 1674.

The Hudson County Genealogical Society is pleased to offer this database of the official list of Bayonne servicemen who were killed or died in service during World War I, courtesy of member Bill Miller.

It's HERE!!!! Bill Miller's index to over 13,000 Death Notices published in the Bayonne Times from 1917-1939 at www.hudsoncountynjgenealogy.org. Click the "Databases" button to check it out!

Here's my request. If you live anywhere in New Jersey and happen to be passing by a Catholic Church and have a camera.... would you think about sending me a photo of those you pass by? Or, if you would like to be listed as a volunteer photographer for this little (not really so little, LOL) project, I would be absolutely thrilled. This book covers the entire state of New Jersey, so you can live anywhere in the state. At some point in the future, I will be moving this page to the NewJerseyGenWeb site since I am also the State Coordinator. If there are new churches not covered in this book, I would love to have those for the site also.

[NOTE: For those of you who are not Catholic, please do not get upset because this is about Catholic Churches. I would love to have photos of any and all Churches and/or Temples, etc. in New Jersey. It just happens that this specific book is on Catholic Churches. I ran across it and decided since it was out of copyright, it would be a great addition to the New JerseyGenWeb Project.

Thanks so much for your anticipated interest and hopeful contributions.